THIS WEEKEND
The acclaimed military action film Black
Hawk Down opened fire on the North American
box office and captured the number one spot with ease while Disney's family
film Snow Dogsdebuted
with great strength at number two. Four-time leader The
Lord of the Rings and Golden Globe champ
A Beautiful Mind
each dropped two spots but remained worthy contenders.

Sony Pictures had plenty
of artillery in its arsenal this weekend as its Jerry Bruckheimer-Ridley
Scott collaboration Black Hawk Down ruled
the box office grossing $33.6M over the long Friday-to-Monday holiday weekend,
according to final
studio figures, after expanding nationwide from a successful three-week
limited run. Charging into a mammoth 3,101 theaters (the widest January
bow ever), the R-rated actioner averaged $10,844 per venue over four days.

That gave Black
Hawk Down the biggest MLK weekend opener
ever surpassing last year's Save the Last
Dance which arrived with $27.5M in four
days from 2,230 theaters for a slightly better $12,344 average. For the
month of January, Black Hawk Down's
debut ranks second all-time behind 1997's Star
Wars - Special Edition which premiered
with $35.9M over three days from 2,104 theaters for a stellar $17,066 average.
Men, not surprisingly, made up the bulk of Hawk's
audience with 55% of the crowd while 60% were under 30, according to studio
exit polls.

With a reported budget
of $90M, Black Hawk Down aims
to parlay its commercial success into a prolonged box office run with possible
Academy Award nominations. Adding in grosses from its limited run in New
York and Los Angeles, the film has collected $35.5M to date. For Ridley
Scott, the fact-based military rescue film set in Somalia could represent
his third consecutive $100M hit after 2000's Gladiator
and last spring's Hannibal.

Debuting with a loud
bark in second place was Disney's family comedy Snow
Dogs which grossed $23.7M over four days.
Playing in 2,302 theaters, the Cuba Gooding Jr. picture about a Miami dentist
who inherits a pack of Alaskan dogs averaged a meaty $10,299 per site.
Buena Vista cornered the kids market with its $31M film now that Harry
Potter, Monsters,
Inc., and Jimmy
Neutron have mostly played out.

Disney has often opened
major family offerings on or around Presidents Day for some early-year
sales. This year, the Mouse House used MLK weekend to get an early start
with Snow Dogs
and won big as its opening gross eclipsed those of recent February titles
like last year's Recess: School's Out ($13.5M
in four days), 2000's The Tigger Movie
($9.4M in three days), and 1999's My Favorite
Martian ($11.2M in four days).

Overall, the box office
had to grapple with many troubling factors including snowstorms in the
east on Saturday, the Golden Globes telecast on Sunday, and football playoffs
sprinkled throughout the weekend. However, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
holiday did provide a boost to weekend business with many workers and students
having the day off on Monday. But despite two strong openings, the weekend
box office did not measure up to last year's holiday frame when the top
ten grossed an astounding $135.3M over the Friday-to-Monday holiday period
with nine films collecting over $10M each. This year's top ten collected
a still-impressive $122.5M, down 9% from last year, and saw just five films
reach double digit millions.

After a four-week reign
atop the charts, New Line's epic adventure The
Lord of the Rings dropped to third place
with $15.3M. The fantasy picture held on well slipping just 20% when comparing
three-day spans and lifted its magical cume to $248.2M. That allowed Rings
to reach number 20 on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters just behind
Monsters, Inc.'s
$249.9M. A final tally of $290-300M seems likely unless the Peter Jackson
film garners major Oscar nominations next month which would certainly send
the cume north of the triple-century mark.

Slipping to fourth
was Ron Howard's biographical drama A Beautiful
Mind which grossed $14.7M. The Russell
Crowe starrer upped its cume to $77.6M and continued its durable run becoming
the second highest-grossing film of the actor's career after the Oscar-winning
Gladiator.
With its triumphant night at the Golden Globes on Sunday where it took
home Best Picture - Drama, Actor, Supporting Actress, and Screenplay trophies,
A Beautiful Mind
looks to have a solid run in the weeks ahead as moviegoers line up for
what is quickly becoming the front-runner in this year's Oscar race.

Paramount's teen comedy
Orange County
fell to fifth with $10.5M in its second weekend. Starring Colin Hanks and
Jack Black, the $16M production has grossed a solid $28.5M in eleven days
and should reach $45-55M by the end of its run.

The all-star caper
pic Ocean's Eleven
dropped to sixth place with $6.8M giving the Warner Bros. smash $171.6M
in its vault. Buena Vista's ensemble comedy The
Royal Tenenbaums placed seventh with $5.4M
for a $37.3M cume.

Paramount's Jimmy
Neutron: Boy Genius popped back into the
top ten in number eight position with $4.3M giving the animated adventure
$74.1M thus far. Golden Globe winner Robert Altman's Gosford
Park took ninth with $4.2M lifting the
USA Films release's total to $12.2M. The Meg Ryan-Hugh Jackman romancer
Kate & Leopold
grossed $4.1M over the holiday weekend and has put the Miramax title at
$42.8M to date.

Meanwhile, the literary
juggernaut Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone dropped out of the top ten as well
and brought in $3.5M in its tenth weekend pushing the film's muscular cume
to an amazing $309.7M. This weekend, the Warner Bros. blockbuster surpassed
the $309.1M lifetime domestic gross of 1983's Return
of the Jedi to claim the number eight
spot on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters. Of course, ticket prices
were much lower when Jedi
was released (and re-released in 1997) so it still has sold more tickets
than Potter.

Going forward, Harry
Potter should conclude its North American
run with about $315-320M. Add in the wizard's towering $560M haul from
international markets and the franchise-launching hit boasts an incredible
$869M global cume.

In limited release,
Universal's period action thriller Brotherhood
of the Wolf expanded from 21 to 107 theaters
and watched its holiday weekend gross climb to $1.5M. That gave the French-language
picture a sturdy $14,336 average per venue and a $2.3M cume.

The top ten films grossed
$122.5M over four days which was down 9% from last year's MLK holiday frame
when Save the Last Dance
opened in the top spot with $27.5M; but up 33% from 2000 when Next
Friday debuted at number one with $16.9M.

This column is updated three times each week
: Thursday (upcoming weekend's summary),
Sunday (post-weekend analysis with
estimates), and Monday night (actuals).
Data source : Exhibitor Relations,
EDI. Opinions expressed in this column
are those solely of the author.